Search results

This study aims to examine the theoretical links among three important variables by empirically testing the cases of two international brands.

By using a comparative case study design, this study conducts a content analysis of a total of 490 Facebook comments regarding online confrontational crises: Dolce & Gabbana’s photo fiasco and Laneige’s discriminative sales incident.

The findings suggest that when evaluating whether or not a company has shouldered responsibility in online confrontational crises, social media users tend to be more influenced by how timely, active and consistent the organization’s reaction is than by the organization’s mere use of concession crisis communication strategies (CCSs). The individual-level perception (perceived degree of organizational crisis responsibility-taking) is a stronger predictor of social media users’ reaction than organization strategies. The earlier that social media user has a perceived improvement in the organization, the more effective is the organization’s strategy to minimize the effects of social media as crisis mobilizer.

This study confirms theories formulated in a Western context with actual cases from Eastern cultures. Theoretically, this study sheds light on the importance of the individual-level perception for effective use of organization strategy in crisis. This study also suggests the relative significance of positive forms of crisis response, concessions CCSs and their relationship with the perceived degree of crisis responsibility-taking.

Corporate responsibility perceptions from stakeholders are becoming more difficult to manage. This is in part because of large amount of social media being projected to stakeholders on a daily basis. In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between corporate responsibility framing from the social media perspective firm’s performance as defined by abnormal-return (defined as the difference between a single stock or portfolios return and the expected return) and idiosyncratic-risk (defined as the risk of a particular investment because of firm-specific characteristics).

Hypotheses are developed through agenda-setting theory and stakeholder and shareholder viewpoints. The research model is tested using sentiment analysis from a collection of social media from several industries.

The results provide support that three corporate responsibility social media categories (economic, social and environmental-framing) will have different impacts (delayed, immediate) on abnormal-return and idiosyncratic-risk. This study finds differences between immediate (one-day lag) and delayed (three-day lag) associations on abnormal-return and idiosyncratic-risk.

This study also suggests differences between the amount and sentiment of corporate responsibility social media framing on abnormal-return and idiosyncratic-risk. Finally, results identify interaction effects between different corporate responsibility social media categories.

The authors argue that privacy is integral to the well-being of consumers and an essential component in not only corporate social responsibility (CSR) but what they term uniquely as social media responsibility (SMR). A conceptual framework is proposed that delineates the privacy issues companies should pay attention to in artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled social media environments.

The authors review literature on privacy issues in social media and AI in the academic and practitioner literatures. Based on the review, arguments focus on the need for an SMR framework, proposing responsible use of consumer data that is attentive to consumers' privacy concerns.

Implications from the framework are a path forward for social media companies to treat consumer data more fairly in this new environment. The framework has implications for companies to reduce potential harms to consumers and consider addressing their power and responsibility. With social media and AI transforming consumer behavior so profoundly, there are a variety of short- and long-term social implications.

Since AI tools are becoming integral to social media company activities, this research addresses the changing responsibilities social media companies have in securing consumers' data and enabling consumers the agency to protect their privacy effectively. The authors propose an SMR framework based on CSR research and AI tools employed by social media companies.

Research shows that the majority of investors, consumers and even younger consumers who are interested in social responsibility are unaware of B Corps. Companies spend significant time and money to obtain B Corp status that B Lab, the non-profit that certifies companies, wants to use as a force for good. Using signaling theory and corporate communication theory, the study examines whether B Corps market their B Corp status effectively on B Corps' social media sites to determine whether brand equity is being built there for the B Corp label by the B Corp companies themselves.

The authors content analyzed social media activity of 100 randomly selected US B Corps ranging in size and industry type over a two-month period on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. The sample was selected from the listing of the B Corporations on the B Lab website using a skip interval method. The authors searched for preselected keywords within two main categories, one directly mentioning B Corps (such as B Corp logo and B Corp name), and another discussing company social responsibility activities that directly relate to what B Corps do but did not mention the B Corp name.

The study finds that half of the B Corps had no social media presence. Of those who were active on social media, most B Corps did not mention B Corp status while many of the B Corps discussed social responsibility activities that directly talked about workers, environment, community, and governance, the areas that B Corp certification covers.

The study indicates that reverse decoupling might better explain communication of B Corp certification on social media than signaling theory. The finding is consistent with more recent research on certifications that shows that obtaining certifications by companies does not have to be followed by marketing certificates even when that could be beneficial. On the other hand, communication of general pro-social claims is consistent with the assumptions of the signaling theory and often used by B Corps. The study suggests why companies market general claims but not a B Corp label. Findings also suggest that when promoting the B Corp label is not done, a firm's internal values are not being expressed externally but when social responsible activities are promoted, a firm's internal values are being expressed externally. The research points to a missed opportunity for B Corps that spend significant resources to get certified. Future studies should employ larger samples with and international companies and venture into other forms of marketing through which B Corp status may be conveyed.

B Corps can easily connect information on the socially responsible activities of B Corps with B Corp status on social media and reap the benefits of B Corps by creating equity for B Corp label on multiple levels. This would also help B-Lab that strives to develop a stronger brand for the B Corps' certification. When consumers know what B Corp stands for, consumers are willing to pay premium prices. Investors are also increasingly interested in companies that care for stakeholders and the environment and are governed in transparent and socially responsible ways.

B Corps are described by the B-Lab as a “force for good” that benefits communities, environment and society. Understanding how certifications such as B Corps are communicated to the public and improving how they are communicated can help businesses reap more benefits from B Corps' socially responsible activity and help consumers and investors become educated about such companies so that B Corps can support them. This is important as B-Corps certification is still not well known. Marketing B Corp certification more effectively can help develop a wider and stronger network of businesses that want to do good, investors that want to found socially responsible companies and consumers who want to buy from B Corps. To create such a marketplace B Corps need to be better marketed online.

The study shows that the authors cannot assume that the certifications that companies obtain, often using significant resources and potentially offering many benefits for building brand equity, will be communicated to the stakeholders to reap these benefits. The study provides possible reasons for why companies may not market such endeavors. The study questions assumptions implicit in signaling theory and by using reverse decoupling the study explains why companies may pursue certifications but not market that the companies obtain them even when pro-social certifications have a great potential to differentiate a company among stakeholders that look for socially responsible firms. The study questions what this means for creating a change in business to become a “force for good.”

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the presentation medium of corporate social and environmental web site disclosure has an impact on user trust in such disclosure, and to examine the effect of media richness on user perception about corporate social and environmental responsibility.

The paper's methodology is a three‐by‐two between‐subjects design experiment, manipulating presentation medium and industry type. Participants viewed social and environmental web site disclosures and completed and communicated their perceptions of trust and the experimental companies' corporate social responsibility.

The presentation medium richness of social and environmental web site disclosures is positively associated with: trusting intentions, but not trusting beliefs, of web site users; and user perception of corporate social and environmental responsibility.

As with all controlled experiments, the research design focused on internal validity to maintain control over the task design, manipulation, and measurement of variables. While this required trade‐offs with external validity, the task was designed based on real‐world scenarios to maintain high levels of external validity within the experimental setting.

The paper provides evidence that corporations could use enhanced web‐based technology to potentially mislead users regarding their performance in the social domain.

The paper extends the visual disclosure literature by examining the richness of the image/visual media, and investigates whether user perceptions are impacted by the variations in its richness.

However, the scale of corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation in Polish media organisations is diversified. The survey, which was conducted among the CEOs of some regional radio broadcast partnerships in Poland, indicates that only one of them has in fact accepted the CSR solutions. The majority of this group think there is no need to implement CSR because they consider it to be a duplication of the public media mission. Considering commercial media, all the biggest TV and radio stations apply CSR. The pressure is manifested by the fact that numerous media organisations – commercial and public ones – have accepted solutions of CSR. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

To verify the hypotheses, a survey was conducted from January to June 2015, in 12 (out of 17) Polish regional radio stations (independent partnerships). The research was of quality character – each media organisation selected for the survey was a separate case study. To collect the required data, two research methods were applied: in-depth interviews with the radio station CEOs (N1-N12); analysis of organisation documents concerning the mission of public organisations. We assumed that an in-depth analysis of a fragment of the empirical material in the form of a case study comes as an element of universal experience, and it reflects the universe (Denzin and Lincoln, 2009).

The survey suggests that only one organisation implements CSR standards. Its CEO, however is mainly driven by business reasoning. He considers that “it is an excellent tool to improve the image of the organisation in the advertisement market” and “a good way to present a radio company as a reliable business partner”.

A critical attitude to CSR in media organisations has a double source: generally, CSR is not adequate to all organisations; CSR multiplies social functions of a media organisation, and a role which it plays in the society. It comes as an immanent feature of the way how a media organisation functions in its basic dimension. As presented above, the attempt to define specific elements, which allow us to analyse the level of “advance” characteristic for a media organisation, drives us to a following conclusion: communication and implementation of the CSR standards seems natural in the context of such activities of media companies as placing orders (relations with business partners, internal policy of employment, etc.), however, it only comes as a confirmation of such expectations from media organisations which are connected with maintenance of journalist standards.

As the survey of the CEOs of Polish public radio companies suggests, the problem of multiplying social responsibility of media refers, first of all, to public media. Majority of the executives considers CSR as duplication of fulfilling the public mission, and as some superfluous practice in public media.

Considering this situation, it is possible to state that the concept of CSR, first of all, results from the presence of media entities in the market, where they compete mainly for the attention of listeners and advertisers. The consumer-investor dimension of media operations also contributes to the perception of CSR as the operation which is apparently pro-social, however which truly aims at increasing the company value by the improvement of its image as goods and service provider.

The source of acceptance for public media is a strong belief in social value of honest and competent information reporting and its contextualisation. At the same time, however, a basic deteriorating factor of media legitimisation is their transformation into market-oriented economy. Commodification of media means constant pressure to increase the role of “business” rhetoric and “business” solutions. The pressure is manifested by the fact that numerous media organisations – commercial and public ones – have accepted solutions of CSR.

The purpose of this article is to offer insight into the future of responsible business in the media industry. The focus of analysis is on the views and opinions of leading CEOs in media companies in Finland about responsible business and the social and organizational challenges faced by the media industry.

To explore the views of top management, extensive interviews in the form of focused theme interviews were performed.

Companies in the media sector are well aware of the industry's responsibility for its operating environment, but they have not yet adopted the principles of responsible business as an integral part of their day‐to‐day operation and strategic decision making. Directors of media corporations believe that responsibility for staff members and job stability is a particularly important part of the media company's social responsibility. They also believe that modern media companies continue to have important social functions. However, as the competition in the media market continues to toughen, it becomes increasingly important for media companies to show a strong financial performance.

The research is able to give a comprehensive picture of foresight thinking within Finnish top media organizations. However, very little can be said about foresight activities of media organizations in other countries. It is proposed that further research covering other interesting countries should be carried out.

Research gives tools to understand the behaviour of media companies in the tightening operating environment. Research implies that media companies should lay more stress on understanding the changing operational environment.

The paper gives a unique picture of the future challenges of media companies.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication covered by the news media is considered as more credible and effective in shaping public perceptions toward corporations than CSR shared by corporations themselves. This is particularly true when CSR is about corporations with social stigma inherent in business practices. This study examines the CSR publicity of stigmatized industries from the journalism lens.

A content analysis was conducted with CSR stories from 2019 to 2020 by USA newspapers (n = 348).

Results of this study showed that the overall volume of CSR from stigmatized industries has decreased, with fewer responses to the recent pandemic. Further, the media brought promotional CSR activities and the business motives behind the activities into focus. Opposing patterns were found for CSR of non-stigmatized industries presented with philanthropic activities based on corporations' social motives to help communities. Similarly, economic and legal responsibilities reflected in the CSR pyramid were more prominently reported for stigmatized industries, and ethical and discretionary responsibilities appeared more frequently for non-stigmatized industries.

Integrating business and media literature, this study enriches scholarly discussions on media processes and effects for CSR communication. This study also provides practical implications for stigmatized industries by highlighting more authentic and careful approaches for CSR communication to earn positive publicity.

This study provides social implications by highlighting the importance of CSR communications through the lens of news media when corporations are socially stigmatized.

Stigmatized industries are known to be active in CSR communication to nullify social stigma surrounding themselves. The authors' findings provide empirical evidence suggesting that not all publicity benefits CSR communication for stigmatized corporations.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility, social media marketing, sales promotion, and store environment on the perceived value and customer retention in the retail industry; and to provide a significant contribution to the existing literature by examining the mediating effect of the perceived value between the stated factors and customer retention.

A quantitative research approach was utilized, collecting data from customers of department stores in the east coast of Malaysia. In total, 278 valid questionnaires were used in the analysis of data using the structural equation modeling.

The findings indicate that perceived value has a significant positive effect on customer retention. The outcomes also showed that social media marketing has an insignificant effect on the perceived value, whereas its effect on customer retention is positive and statistically significant. Additionally, the results confirmed that corporate social responsibility and store environment have significant positive effects on the perceived value and customer retention. Moreover, the findings showed that sales promotion has a significant positive effect on the perceived value, but its effect on customer retention is insignificant. Finally, the results revealed that the perceived value mediates the relationships between all of the independent variables and customer retention.

The results of this study improve our understanding of how these factors affect customer retention in the retail industry.

This paper aims at understanding whether firms conceive and use social media as disseminators, as well as amplifiers, of their results concerning sustainability and responsibility and whether this practice stimulates stakeholder engagement and participation, laying the foundation for a dialogue on corporate social responsibility.

This research analyses the theoretical background of communication related to sustainability and responsibility and the company–stakeholder dialogue in the food sector. An inductive interpretive approach is provided by conducting a qualitative content analysis related to the communication practices of the food company Ferrero (Italy) from June 2015 to September 2019.

Companies can use social channels to present their vision, values, approaches and choices related to sustainability and responsibility. Social media can become useful networks to reach stakeholders requiring and claiming for transparency about more and more relevant topics – allowing, at the same time, a two-way relationship and dialogue.

The limitation of the paper is that it presents the observation of a single firm.

The managerial implications relate to the value created by a dialogical communication: this is a strong foundation for enhancing relationships capable of maintaining and increasing the company's reputation. The establishment of an interchange about sustainability and responsibility represents a new way to direct the company and its stakeholders towards mutual support in creating value.

This article contributes to enriching the debate on the degree of knowledge, understanding, response and reaction to social media–based corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication.